No Sugar in My Coffee
by Kuramastrass
Summary: A good 25 years after they took the barrier down, demons are running rampant. Human World is a mess. Humans live in fear, and our favorite Spirit World fighters are trying to get by. And one cold day in December, these four have an unexpected meeting...


**Damn. I might cry.**

**I don't own YuYu Hakusho. I also don't own the songs "No Sugar Tonight" by... Three Dog Night, I think... or "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, which were the inspiration for this little thing here. But that's besides the point.**

**Okay, so, this was up a long time ago, and I took it down one day along with everything else I had up. I decided it needs to be back up. It's too cute. So, this makes the second of my fanfictions making a comeback! Yay!**

**It's been edited a little bit since it first went up.**

**This is... sorta a weird one. So let me explain. After the Demon World Tournament and everything, the took down the barrier, right? Well, after a few years, the demons decided to just overrun Human World. They've taken the majority of the beer and stuff, and Human World's a pretty big mess.**

**Kurama, Hiei, Yusuke, and Kuwabara have all lost touch. They're all really just trying to get by in this huge mess.**

**So... anyhows, enjoy "No Sugar in My Coffee"! Please review? It would make me so happy!**

As the sole customer in the small shop finished her coffee, she slid her empty cup and saucer across the polished wooden counter. She stood up silently and walked slowly out the door without even so much as a "thank you".

The Coffee Master, as the usuals called him, rested his back against the wall behind him now that he was the only one left, shutting his green eyes gently to rest them. The lights hanging overhead needed replaced, or perhaps simply dusted, as the light they gave off was dim, taking quite a toll on his precious eyesight.

The player piano on the other side of the single room, in a corner that had long been vacant of people, busied itself with sad songs, bittersweet memories of better days gone by, which did nothing to help the Coffee Master stay as vigilant as his character demanded he be. Within minutes he was fully asleep.

- -

"Bartender! Give me a tall one!"

The Coffee Master blinked several times, the loud sound jolting him awake when the soft jingle of the bells above the door had not. Had he actually fallen _asleep_? It was only moments ago that he had closed his eyes...

The voice... he tried to recall where he had heard it before. It sounded familiar. As hard as he tried, he simply couldn't place it, but in any case he was obligated to answer. "This isn't a bar. It's a coffee shop."

The owner of the voice stood in the doorway, where he could barely be seen because of the distance and the light. "You _sure_ this isn't a bar?"

"There was a bar here previously, but it closed two years ago."

"Damn," he muttered softly as he took in that information. He was silent for a minute, and then asked, "You know where I can _find_ a bar?"

"All of the alcohol is gone. I'm sure you could find speakeasies of sorts if you ask the right people, but I am not one of them," the Coffee Master replied. "I'm not much of a drinking man."

"Speakeasies? I've been forced to go back to my old ways, but I try to stay legal when I can." He chuckled softly, just a bit, before he said, "Guess I'll have a coffee, then. How much are they?" He stepped out of the dark doorway, and into sight of the Coffee Master, to approach the counter.

"Yusuke," he muttered. Though it had meant to be more of a question, he found he already knew the answer. His friend and partner of sorts, from all those years ago, here...

_"Kurama?"_ The one called Yusuke titled his head and broke into a laugh. Reaching across the counter between them to pull the redhead into a one-armed hug, it was all he could do but smile. "Imagine seeing you here. How are ya?"

"I have not been well off, if that is what you are asking, but that does not mean to say that I have been doing terrible. And as for the matter of the cost, as you asked earlier, it's on the house."

Yusuke found himself a seat at the counter and slid into it. "Thanks, man."

"It's no problem. Sugar in your coffee, Yusuke?"

"Nah. I drink it black, just like Ma used to."

Kurama slid the coffee cup across the counter to the customer, again resting his back on the wall. "So, Yusuke. How have you been?" His friend took a long sip of hot, black coffee. "Working hard, protecting humans?"

"Stuff it, Kurama. You know Spirit World fired me."  
"Yes, but I thought that perhaps they would ask you to come back, since the service you provided them is greatly needed."

"You'd _think_." He laughed, though it was forced. "Face it, they don't want me. I'm one of those demons that they're trying to get rid of. I'm their _prince_." He sighed, and it was silent for a minute, awkward though it was. It was then that Yusuke noticed the music coming from the abandoned corner, and the instrument covered in cobwebs.

"So, a self-playing piano," he muttered somewhat obviously, noting that there was no musician seated at the keys that were once ivory and well dusted. Those keys were now turning yellow and buried under years of dust, collected there from being unused. He tried, though he failed, not to think of Keiko, and how she could brighten a room by sitting at that same instrument...

"I admit you have me curious. How have you been getting by, Yusuke?"

The raven-haired man sighed. "I've been going around and stealing... since no one wants to hire me. Just like... just like Ma."

"_Like mother, like son, as they say_," Kurama thought dryly.

"But... why are you working back _here_? Don't you have some sort of high-paying job?"

The Coffee Master chuckled. He was glad to have a change of subject, and this one was for the better. "I did... If you must know, I was... discharged... from my previous employment."

"No... fucking... _way_." Yusuke broke out into a laugh. "Mr. Perfect was _fired_?"

Kurama continued to chuckle. "Yes, he was."

"What's so funny about that?"

"The circumstances under which I was fired are quite amusing."

Yusuke raised a curious eyebrow. "What, did you let a man-eating plant loose?"

The thought almost had Kurama breaking out into a full laugh, but he restrained himself. "No, but I seem to have misplaced my flesh-eating lilies..."

His friend laughed even harder. "You're not serious!"

"It is true that I have not been able to find my flesh-eating lilies for some time, but they are not the cause of my unemployment. I have my past to thank for that."

"What?" The black lines called eyebrows jumped higher.

"A... female co-worker of mine became very attached to me, I'm afraid. She cornered me during a break that we shared, and..." He held up a hand to cover his sneer as he snickered. "She brought it upon herself. She provoked him."

"Youko?"

"Yes. She did keep quiet about that, which I thank her for, though she went to our supervisors and claimed that I abused and harassed her. I could not and _will_ not deny that I abused her... though I would say it was _me_ who was being harassed."

Yusuke just sighed, listening to the music for a bit. "How's your mother?" he finally asked, to break the unnerving silence of the room.

"She is in the hospital, once again."

"What for?"

"She... has cancer. A very rare form of it, I'm afraid, and recovery is not very likely."

"Oh, man... Must be rough."

"Yes, but I can only hope that she gets well. I'm going to see her after I close up, and if you have no previous engagements, you are welcome to come with me, if you wish."

"Sure," he replied, shrugging.

Just then the bells above the doors jingled, signaling a customer. "This a bar?" Another voice which rang bells in Kurama's memory...

"No, ya dumbass, go home," Yusuke answered rudely.

The Coffee Master had trouble deciding whether he wanted to merely roll his eyes or glare at the back of Yusuke's head. His friend had turned, exposing his side, part of his back, and the back of his head. What he did was a combination of both as he sighed. "No, it's a coffee shop."

"Coffee doesn't sound bad... I'll take one. How much?" And like Yusuke had, this person finally came into the light.

Kurama briefly made a mental note to get stronger light bulbs for the doorway. "Kuwabara," he said, noting it was another of his old friends and partners as Yusuke screamed the name. "Kuwabara!" He jumped up and came over to the other redhead, pulling him into a headlock.

"_Urameshi!"_ Kuwabara screamed as he put Yusuke into his own headlock. "Kurama."

"What've _you_ been doing?"

"Training so I can finally _cream_ you!"

"Like _that's_ ever gonna happen!"

Kurama snickered at their childlike behavior, though that was not to say that he wasn't glad to see something that made him think of times past fondly for a change. "I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't do that in here." He didn't mind them doing that; he just didn't want them to break something.

Yusuke and Kuwabara let each other go, both muttering something to the effect of, "Right. Sorry." Yusuke went back to the seat he previously occupied, and Kuwabara sat beside him.

"Kurama, how've you been?" the newcomer asked.

"As I told Yusuke earlier, I have not been well off, but that does not mean to say that I have been doing terrible. And as I also told Yusuke, for the matter of the cost of your coffee, I shall pay for it."

"Thanks."

Kurama smiled, simply glad to have someone in his coffee shop that he felt like giving free coffee to for once. "It's not a problem. Do you take sugar in your coffee, Kuwabara?" he asked as he turned around to begin preparing the drink.

"No, but I'll take some cream." He sighed. "Eikichi used to love cream..."

Yusuke turned to face him. "_Used_ to?"

"Don't laugh, Urameshi, but..." He tried to choke back the tears that were threatening to fall. "I... had to put 'im down."

"Kuwabara..." Kurama slid him the cup filled with the light brown beverage.

"Thanks," Kuwabara whispered hoarsely. He took a drink, and then looked to Yusuke. "Sorry to hear about... Yukimura."

That was exactly why he hadn't told anyone...

"What happened to Keiko?" Kurama asked immediately, turning to Yusuke.

Yusuke struggled to answer. "She's... she's, well..."

The Coffee Master picked out the true meaning of those words. "I'm... so sorry, Yusuke. I... didn't..."

"No one does." He sighed, dipping his Reigun finger into the black liquid before him and beginning to stir it. "I didn't tell anyone, except her parents."

He hadn't wanted anyone to know. He didn't want people coming up to him and telling him how sorry they were, even though they weren't. He knew that half of the people who said they were sorry when someone had died only said it to say it...

So he told no one, not even the people he knew would say they were sorry and mean it...

Kurama sighed, both from the news and from the fact that he was sure that was going to leave a mess. He handed Yusuke the plastic instrument intended for the purpose that he was using his finger for.

"First I get killed by a car, and then I kill someone in a car," he muttered, taking the long piece of plastic and beginning to stir his coffee with that instead.

Kurama almost choked on his own spit. "What?"

He immediately began trying to correct himself. "I don't mean... We were driving, if only I had been paying more attention..." He banged his fist on the countertop, leaving a dent, and bits of coffee flew onto the wood.

The Coffee Master stayed silent. He only grabbed a napkin, starting to wipe down the counter and waiting for Yusuke to continue.

"They came out of nowhere and hit us, passenger side. I was driving."

"Yusuke..."

"If Botan had told me... We could have taken the subway..."

"Perhaps they didn't know."

Yusuke looked up. "But... they had to."

"They didn't predict your death, man," Kuwabara replied, defending Kurama. "They aren't mind-readers."

"How'd you _know_, by the way?" Yusuke asked him after a few seconds of silence broken only by the piano.

"Mr. Yukimura just told me a few days ago. I went to the restaurant looking for a job."

"Oh..."

"He'd probably offer you a job, too, Urameshi."

"Heh," he responded, looking a little more like both himself and his demon ancestor, Raizen. "I don't need it."

"You don't have a job," Kuwabara muttered, figuring this was the case.

"So what?"

Kurama soon became disinterested in the conversation and glanced downward, taking out his pocket watch. His mother had given it to him, and he did find it quite handy on most occasions. "I think I'll close up a few minutes early today, if that is all right with the two of you."

"Sure," they both answered, startled. They had been so absorbed with their argument – which had somehow turned to Kuwabara's code of honor – that they had forgotten the other redhead.

Kurama chuckled again as he took the mostly empty cups and the saucers to hand-wash them. "Then I am going to see my mother. Kuwabara, you are welcome to join us."

"Sure." He shrugged. He didn't have anything else he had to do, and spending some time with the two of them would be nice...

The Coffee Master finished washing his few dishes and emerged from behind the counter, to notice his two customers had already gone outside and were wrestling in the falling snow. He shook his head, sighing. Their coats were meant for spring and neither of them had the sense to wear a scarf or a hat... Well, when one of them ended up sick, he'd know why.

He exited the coffee shop and locked the door. "The hospital is this way," he told them, not that he was sure they heard him, before walking in the direction he had indicated.

A few minutes later, they came running up behind him, out of breath. "You couldn't have waited?" Yusuke screamed.

"I could have, yes, but I would have been waiting until some time next year."

Neither of them answered. They knew Kurama was right... to an extent.

Just then, they heard a scream. "Stop! Thief! Someone help!" The shout had come from somewhere off to their right, one of the stores. And as a black figure blew past them at what was an inhuman speed – though to them it didn't seem that – Yusuke came forward and tackled the offender.

The smaller figure wrestled under Yusuke's frame. "Get off me!"

Yes, the voice was familiar... and the black clothes, along with the speed...

"Hiei," Kurama muttered so softly no one picked it up. Finally, after two strikes, failure to recognize his old friends and partners, he was back on top of his game. Maybe it was the fresh and crisp winter air about them that made his mind work more nimbly, the way he was known for...

The one called Hiei Jaganshi continued to struggle for his freedom. "Hiei," Kurama called to him – causing him to stop struggling as hard, "he will let you free if you will not run."

"Hn. Fox, if you're telling me not to run, there had better be a good reason for it."

Kurama sighed. That response was so typical for the small fire apparition. "Yusuke. Let him go."

"Hey, Hiei," Yusuke muttered as he did what the Coffee Master requested of him and came eye to eye with the shorter one.

Hiei only hn-ed and glared at the three. Kurama sighed as Kuwabara called out in a somewhat pleasant tone, "Shrimp!"

"What is this idiot still doing alive?"  
"Hey! I _heard _that, you know!"

"I would hope so; he wasn't whispering," Kurama murmured to Yusuke, who now stood beside him. Yusuke began laughing at the Fox's remark as Kuwabara failed in his attempt to put Hiei in a headlock.

They stepped in to break the two up before one of them killed the other. "Yes, well, Hiei... We were on our way to visit my mother at the hospital. You are welcome to come with us, but of course..." With the practiced precision of the thief, he took the loot from the fire-koorime. "I won't allow you to take stolen goods into the hospital."

"Hn."

"Now, where did you get this from?" Kurama muttered to himself.

"Uh, Kurama, it says 'Ricco's Jewelry' on the bag."

He glanced down at the bag in his hand and noticed that Kuwabara was right. He sighed, feeling like a complete idiot for one of the few times in his life, and tossed the plunder to Yusuke.

Yusuke gave Kurama a "What do I do with this?" look and Kurama answered, "You have a better throwing arm."

Now understanding what the redhead wanted him to do, he wound up and threw the bag at Ricco's Jewelry and a sickening crack was heard as the bag sailed through the window. "There's your jewelry back!"

"Honestly, Yusuke, you didn't need to break their window."

The four fell silent as they continued toward the hospital, though three of them wondered why the fourth had actually come along with them without being forced.

They arrived at the hospital and walked inside. The secretary on duty glanced up, saw the redhead, and simply nodded. She and all of the other nurses knew why he was here, and figured that the three with him were relatives of his, even though they looked nothing alike.

Kurama led his three companions to the room where his mother lay in the bed, waiting for his arrival.

"Hello, Mother."

"Shuichi." She smiled. "I see you've brought friends."

"Yes; I ran into them today."

As the two who had been searching for a bar earlier that day attempted to make a conversation with their friend's mother, Kurama noticed Hiei moving ever so slowly toward the door, eventually making it into the hallway. "I'll be right back," he muttered, though no one heard him.

"Hiei."

The one who had his name called so gently looked up. "Yukina is here," he confided quietly.

The news startled the Fox. "How long... has she been here?"

"A few weeks."

Had she really been? He was here every day, but he hadn't noticed... "Do you know where her room is, Hiei? I would like to see her."

"Damn, are you asking if I've been to see her?"

He defended his accusation. "I believe that you do have a sentimental side, Hiei, but you refuse to show it."

"She's still my sister!" Hiei screamed as loudly as he dared. "Why _wouldn't_ I come to see her?"

"So, you _do_ know where her room is, then," Kurama abruptly changed the subject.

Hiei hn-ed and walked to a door that was slightly open just down the hall. Seeing that Kurama was following him, the fire-koorime walked into the room.

"Hello, Mr. Hiei. Hello, Kurama," the normally cheerful girl greeted them sadly.

"Yukina... what happened to you?"

She didn't answer. "She was attacked," her brother finally answered for her. "I saved her, brought her here."

Kurama nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that," he muttered, though to which of them he was speaking he wasn't sure. "I hope you're feeling better."

"I am, thank you," she replied with a weak smile.

"Yusuke and Kuwabara are here, as well. Would you like to see them?"

"That would be nice," the female answered, looking at Hiei, who left to get them... although he didn't want to.

"Mr. Hiei..." Yukina mumbled. Kurama looked into her eyes. "Is he... really my brother?"

"Yes," Kurama answered with a bit of a smile, realizing that she must have heard him screaming... which was what he hoped would happen, not that he would say that aloud.

"Why... didn't he tell me?" she asked of him now, tears threatening to roll down her cheeks.

The redheaded one sighed. Explaining that... was going to be difficult, to say the least. "I honestly... have no idea," he said, "though I do know that he's been threatening people not to mention it to you, and that Kuwabara is the only one of us who does not know."

Just then, a joyful shout of "Yukina!" could be heard from the doorway.

Kurama moved from his seat as quickly as he could so Kuwabara wouldn't kill him trying to get near her bedside. "I'm going to say goodbye to my mother," he muttered to Yukina, hoping she heard him over Kuwabara and Yusuke. "I'll see you again soon."

He walked silently past the two around the girl's bedside and the insanely ticked fire demon in the doorway. As he came into his mother's room, Shiori glanced up at him.

"I'm glad you brought your friends with you."

"They are unique, I will admit that." A second of silence, and then he said, "Well, Mother, I must be going." He bent down to kiss her on the forehead after checking to see if anyone was in the doorway. "I'll see you tomorrow."

She nodded, closing her eyes to rest. And with that, Kurama began helping Hiei and Yusuke attempt to drag Kuwabara away from the snow girl's bed. And after having done so, they went outside, the silently falling, perfectly white snowflakes creating the perfect atmosphere of serenity, that the four of them were going to go for a walk went unsaid yet still understood among them.

"By the way, Hiei... Yukina knows."

"She... _what_?"

"She apparently heard you screaming."

"Huh? Yukina knows _what_?"

"Hn. Nothing."

"Oh, hey, who wants to go to my place? I got sodas and chips and that new game system..."

"And let me guess, Yusuke. You stole them?"

"Well, I think I stole the sodas..."

"And _you_ stop _me_ from stealing?"

"Urameshi, you _didn't_!"

"Now that you mention it, I don't think I did. Nope... not _those_, anyway..."

"Challenge accepted, Urameshi! I'll kick your butt!"

"Hah! As if!"

"Well, what do you say, Hiei? Are you going to come along with us?"

"I don't see why not."

And a perfect picture of friendship the four of them painted, the picture of friends undergone many trials, the picture of friendship forgotten but renewed and stronger than before.

And the piano in the long-forgotten corner of the coffee shop... It continued to play its sad songs, full of memories which brought longing for those better days gone by... though now they didn't seem as bittersweet as they were sweet, and not only did they tell of the better days past, they told of better days to come, giving the hope needed to wait for and create that bright future...

- Kuramastrass -


End file.
